


Give and Receive

by passionatememes



Category: DRAMAtical Murder - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, and also still getting used to the whole dreams thing, and really just the human thing in general, he has puppy habits too, ren is a cutie, ren is still getting used to the whole emotions thing, renao - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-07
Updated: 2015-06-07
Packaged: 2018-04-03 05:53:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4089424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/passionatememes/pseuds/passionatememes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Aoba?” Ren paused. “Do you wish that Sei had woken up in that hospital instead of me?” </p>
<p>Ren is woken up by a nightmare, he's still getting used to the whole 'having actual emotions' thing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Give and Receive

“Ren..!” 

“Aoba?!” Ren looked around at his surroundings. He didn’t know where he was. He didn’t know what was happening, only that Aoba was calling his name. 

“Help me, Ren!” 

“Aoba! Where are you?!”

No answer. 

All of a sudden, the environment around him changed. Ren was in the middle of what looked like a courtroom. 

“Ren… Ren what? You don’t even have a last name… How can you be a person without something as simple as that?”

“He isn’t,” Ren heard someone mutter to the person by their side. Each person staring down at him were wearing masks, but he knew instinctively that every single one of them were staring at him. 

Judging him.

Looking at him. 

“How can Aoba possibly love you?” One of them sneered, another one laughed. 

“Aoba doesn’t love him, he just says that because he doesn’t want to have to deal with a whiny little dog.” 

“Why would Aoba want someone so barely human? Even that robot is closer to a human than he is.” 

Ren looked back up at all the people staring at him. There were so many, thousands, staring at him. Boring holes in his skin with their eyes. He took a deep breath, telling himself that he could not cry. He could not cry in front of all these people.

“Don’t believe us?” One of the masked people lifted an eyebrow. “Why don’t you ask Aoba yourself?” 

Suddenly, a door opened, and Aoba stepped in. Nobody turned to look at him except for Ren. 

“Aoba... ! Are you alrig-” 

“You think you are entitled to look at me? I never wanted you.” Aoba stared at him. Ren’s eyes widened. He wanted to believe this was just Desire, taking over again, but no. He could tell. This was Aoba. 

“I-”

“No. Shut the fuck up you stupid animal! How dare you take my brother’s body! You don’t deserve that body. You had a perfectly good one of your own. But you decided to disappear and fuck everything up.” Aoba walked closer to the surprised Ren. “Maybe Desire should’ve gotten a body instead of you, Restraint. You hinderance ghost of a person. You don’t deserve to be alive.”

Ren opened his mouth to say something, to apologize, but the floor opened up beneath him. Everybody else stayed where they were, but Ren… Ren fell.   
He hit the water with a splash, water instantly flooding into his mouth and nose. Choking and gasping for air, he struggled to swim to the surface. Tears mixed with the water surrounding him, and then he heard Aoba’s voice again. 

“Ren! Wake up, Ren!” 

Ren awoke with a gasp, his eyes snapping open. He was back in Aoba’s room, curled up in a tight ball in the bed. Aoba had turned on the light, looking concerned at him, but Ren honestly didn’t know what just happened. 

He sat up, noticed that his body was shaking, looked at aoba… And promptly started to cry. 

“Ren…” Aoba frowned and then Ren felt Aoba’s arms wrap around him. “... Did you have a nightmare?” 

“...” Ren took a deep breath, unsure how to stop crying. He had never actually cried before and he didn’t like the feeling of water in his eyes. He sniffled, taking another deep breath. 

“... I’m sorry, Aoba. I didn’t mean to burden you like this.” He leaned his head on Aoba’s shoulder, feeling absolutely miserable. The images and words of his dream still echoed in his head. What if Aoba really did feel that way and just wasn’t telling him? He squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to let any more tears get past his eyelids. “...” 

“Hey, hey, Ren…” Aoba moved, pulling back a little and cupping Ren’s face. Ren opened his eyes, looking up at him. 

“Aoba, I-”

“Shh… It’s alright.” Ren blinked, feeling Aoba kiss his cheeks. “It’s alright… You just had a nightmare, I’m pretty sure.” 

“...” Ren nodded, taking a deep breath. “... Yes. Just a small nightmare. Nothing to be concerned about…” He seemed to be trying to convince himself as well as Aoba.

“What happened in your nightmare, Ren?” 

“Bad things.” Ren didn’t say anything else. Aoba sighed. 

“I think that I would be able to help you more if I knew what had happened in it.” 

“...” 

“You can tell me... “ He cupped his face again, looking into his eyes. Ren stared back at him. 

“Aoba?” Ren paused. “Do you wish that Sei had woken up in that hospital instead of me?” 

“Huh?” Aoba blinked. “Is that what you dreamt about?”

“Partly.” 

He smiled sadly, rubbing his thumbs on the cheekbones below Ren’s eyes. Ren shut those eyes. They weren’t his eyes. He was an imposter living in the body of Aoba’s twin. Sei had deserved to live more than Ren, but Ren had ended up being the one to eventually survive. 

It wasn’t right. 

“Ren…” Aoba started, looking at him. “I don’t wish you had disappeared. I do miss Sei… But he wanted you to be here instead of him. That’s why he gave you this body. I’m sure he’s much happier watching over us right now instead.” he kissed Ren’s forehead and then leaned his own forehead against his. “I’m very happy that you have a physical body and I’m so grateful that we could be together like this…” 

Ren closed his eyes again, taking a deep breath. “Alright. I apologize, I don’t mean to be a burden. I’m probably causing quite a lack of sleep as well…” He sighed, opening his eyes again and then pulling away. “Please go back to sleep, Aoba.”

Aoba frowned, grabbing his face again and squeezing his cheeks inwards. Ren’s eyes widened, thinking that Aoba had gotten angry at him.   
“Ren. In a relationship, both of the people involved have to both give and receive. You’ve given so much… Yet you hardly let yourself receive anything.”

“...” 

“Let me help you. You’re not a burden, I just want to make sure you’re alright.” Aoba moved to the side a little, patting his own lap. “Lay down and put your head here.”

“I am no longer tired,” Ren protested. “And I would rather not risk another nightmare. You go to sleep first, Aoba.” 

“Ren…” Aoba looked stern, and Ren noted with slight amusement that he sounded a bit like his grandmother. He sighed, meekly laying down and curling up in his lap.   
Ren felt a light, gentle hand going through his hair and he realized that Aoba was playing with it gently, hoping to relax him. 

After a few minutes, Ren situated himself completely in Aoba’s lap, half asleep and letting most of the habits from when he was a dog take over. He let his tongue peek past his lips and lay on his back, half hoping Aoba would rub his belly. Through a sleepy fog inside his brain, he realized that Aoba was laughing softly, saying something. He tried to ask what, but he was too tired and instead, just fell into a peaceful sleep for the rest of the night.


End file.
